Controlling device for alternative fluid supply



Aug, 23, 1932, F LAWRENCE 1,873,897

CONTROLLING DEVICE FOR ALTERNATIVE FLUID SUPPLY Filed June 6, 1931,Ziwveza i'azzizizzZawa'ewae gwagyfi Patented Aug. 23, 1932 UNITEDSTATES PATENT oFFicE -c FRANKLIN LAwnnNcE, or PORTLAND, MAI E, AssIe onr PORTLAND strovn FOUNDRY 00., or PORTLAND, MAINE, A CORPORATION orMAINE CONTROLLING DEVICE FOR ALTERNATIVE FL'UID SUPPLY Application filedJune 6, 1931. Serial No. 542,626.

This invention relates to improvements in controlling devices foralternative fluid pplyl i More particularly it is herein illustrated asit may be applied in a domestic cooking range, wherein there often aretwo burners for different uses with a single chamber, as

7 an oven, one for broiling and one for baking, in which case it isimportant, as a measure of safety, that if gas is entering the chamberthrough either burned it shall not be possible to open the other burner.

Hitherto, devices for this general purpose 7 have embodied more or lesscomplicated mechanisms involving the mounting and operating of one ormore elements intermediate of the respective gas cocks, so as to providea shiftable lock or the like that would necessarily engage one OF theother of them, and

would look the one so engaged. Such mechanisms are by nature ill adaptedfor present day artistic and sanitary designs, as they embody unsightlyparts which it is diflioult to conceal from view, and which collectdirt.

The present invention provides a way to simplify the control of suchplural burner gas ovens and to eliminate all operating elementsintermediate of the cocks, by providing a direct co-action of cocks suchthat each cock, when open, locks the other cock' closed. It is a part ofthe problem that the invention should be both infallible in action andinoffensive in design.

These ends are attained by use of interacting cock-handles.

The invention accomplishes the said objects and results by arranging thecocks in a suitable relation to each other, which may be at anyconvenient location,for example, at the front'of the range, fed by amanifold hidden behind an apron,each cock controlling one of the saidburners. The particular two gas cocks which are to be controlled by thedevice of the invention are set relatively close together. They may bedesigned so that the movement to open either is a rotary motion towardthe other, or may be designed so that both are rotatable in the samedirection to open. The cock-handles may be of lever-arm type, preferablywith each lever handle offset a little from the axis on which it turns;or they may be buttons with interlocking shapes. In either case, whenboth are closed, either can be opened without afi'ecting theother, butwhen either is thus turned to an open position it obstructs the rotatingof the other. Therefore one cock must be closed before the other can beopened.

It is intended that the patent shall cover, by suitable expression inthe appended claims, whatever features'of patentable novelty exist inthe invention disclosed. 1

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a portion of av gas range equipped withmy invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevation looking from the right in Figure 1, withportions broken away for clearness;

Figure 3 is an enlarged front elevation showing one design of coactingcock-control handles, both turnedto off position of the cooks; showingin dotted lines the fully opened position of the left handle; and, indotted lines, intermediate positions of both of the handles.

Figure is a side elevation looking from the right in Figure 3; i

Figure 5 is an elevation showing a preferred form of the invention,which embodies coacting buttons, the right hand cock being shown openand the other cook thereby locked; and

Figure 6 is a side elevation looking from the right in Figure 5.

Referring to the drawing, the gas range of Figures 1 and 2 has the usualor any suitable series of open burners at the top 10 and has acombination oven-broiler compartment 12, of known type, associated withwhich are the two burners 14, 16 for whose control the invention isespecially designed. The broiler burner 14 is at an upper location incompartment 12 and has its discharge perforations on the under side, todirect its flame downward'for broiling food supported on a removableshelf 13, which may be positioned close underneath; The oven burner 16is arranged'underneath the oven floor 18; and openings around the floor18 provide for needed circulation. Both of these burners may be of usualor suitable shape, and each has a short stem with air regulator 20, toreceive the gas supply; the broiler burner from pipe 22, and the ovenburner from pipe 24.

The range burners a re suppliedfrom any suitable gas supplymanifold' 26(Figures 36) which is concealed in Figures 1 and 2 behind anapron- 2.8.,The gasneockscon--- trolling the burners stand above the mai fold, andhave stems sticking through the apron 28 and; carrying suitable;handles;

which are made fast on the stems 35, as by screws 37. In Figure 1 thei-locat-ionsiof operating stems for cocks controlling the open burners10' are indicated by the apron openings seen at 30, besidetwhich are thecooks 32; .3' i,, mo:re particularlydesci ibed below; and in Figures 3-6the position of the apron 281's i'ndica-tedin dot and dash: lines. i i

The invention relates more particularly to safety control of the oven.burners by 00- action o' tthe cockswhich are: set sothat their handles36', 38 interfere i'te'ithercock is open. In the form of the inventionillustrated in Figures 3 and 4; the-interior of each of the cocks 82,34L may be of fastyle' already known wherein the'valve is rotatablethrough 90, from a fully closed position to a wideopen "position; andwherein the first or 423 degrees of: rotary-travel of the valve, whenturned in direction to open'lit, is lap of the valve, so that theswinging 'of'a cock handle does not beginthe-a tualopening of its respective valve-until that handle and valve have been rotated throughapproximately ircin the'fully closed position of the "cock.

The handles of 'thecocks,which may be of any suitable type, "areassociated together in an operative arrangement whereby each, when swungto an open .pos1t1on ,'coj11st1- tutes a positive obstructionin theorbit of opening travel of the other. In Figures- 3 and 4: thecockhandles are of depending lever arm type, indicated respectively at 36,-38. Each lever arm is oii-set a little from a strictly radial position,and. the valves are constructed reversely, with respect to each other,so that each one opens by rotation of its valve in: direction oppositeto that in Which the other moves to open cock 32 counterclockwise, andcock 34' clockwise, the orbits. of the two handles intersecting.

VVith' these, cocks, set at a suitable space apart, and both of thembeingclosed, either handle 36,38 maybe moved through its orbit from itsclosed position a to its open position without affecting the otherhandle; and,

when thus open, as is the handle 36 at 0, it will stand in the way of anopening move ment of the other handle. But when a handle 'has moved farenough through its orbit for its valvev to be open, regardless ofWhether the cock is only partially open as.

at b, or is fully open, its handle obstructs and prevents every movementof the other handle which would be sufficient to open the valve of thatother handle. One handle thus acts as a check to the other, with theresult that at no one time can gas befllet to pass throug'lra cock ifgas is then passing through the other cock.

, Another -;iliustration of the invention showing a typeof cock whichsome may prefer, is seen in Figures 1, 2, 5 and 6, where the cockoperating l1andles 36, 38 are in the form of turn buttons. Thesebuttons, is of'full-fashioned style, may have circular bodies asindicated by dot and dash linesv in Figure .5, in which case: they willbeset so 1 that the rotary orbit of one intersects the rotary orbit ofthe other. And in each body a shallow recess, where the two orbitsaremutually secant', as at, provides for thei orbit/of thefothe'r body, andthis permits rotation of that other body wh'en'th-e recess isinprop-erlocation, to wit, when thefirst cock is in closed position. Thus, withboth buttons in any closed positions,"the recesses will" stand, each inthe orbit oftheothe-rcock handle, adjacent to each other; and eitherbutton may be rotated through its orbit without encountering theother.But rota;

tion of either one to a partially open posi=- tion, or to the fully openposition-in whi'ch button 38 is illustrated=,causes the other tobe-positivel'y locked'against opening; a

With the circular buttons, the; valves-pf cocks 32, 34inay beidentical'in form, so that each opens in the same directiong orthey maybe reversely constructed to{ open in opposite directions. In eithercase,-.the buttons above described will coact to prevent botl'rcocks'being open at any onetime.

' The shapeof buttons sliown in fulllines in Figure 5 is,.how'ever,'preferred fromthe standpoint of economy and attractiveness. Thesebuttons function the same as the circular ones except thatjthe' cocks inthis case pmustopen in opposite directions, cook 32 any suitablematerial: and shape, it is convenient, economical and sanitaryto'makethebutton type of porcelain, and to'inoldthe pon- '52".

celain with a middle ridge extending; across the-axis of the valve, asseen 1H.Fl=gl111:.5,.b

which ridge the button will ordinarily be graspedby onesfingers,while-the broader and underlying baseportion of! the' buttonthe'cock handles may be made: of

serves as a guard between the fingers and the range.

I claim:

1. A two-pipe flow-control device comprising the combination, with twopipes, of a pair of cocks, one for each pipe, having a pair of eo-actingelements, one turning with each cock, with intersecting orbits; eachsaid element, when its own cock is open, being, by its form and locationrelative to the other element, an obstruction in the orbit of said otherelerlriient to prevent the opening of said other coc v 2. A two-pipeflow-control device comprising the combination, with two pipes, of apair of cocks, one for each pipe, wherein the handle of each cock, whenopen, by its form and location constitutes an obstruction in the openingpath of the other handle.

3. In a gas range having two burners arranged so that gas from each canreach a single compartment, the combination therewith of a supply cockfor each burner, said cocks being organized close together with theirseveral paths, when opening, passing through a common region wherebyeither, when in said region, positively prevents the opening movement ofthe other cock.

4. In a gas range having two burners arranged so that gas from each canreach a single compartment, the combination therewith of a supply cockfor each burner, said cocks severally opening by rotation in oppositedirections andbeing organized close together with their several pathswhen opening passing through a common region whereby each, when in saidregion, positively prevenlgs the opening movement of the other coc 5. Asafety control device for two burners, comprising separate cocks, onefor supplying each burner, arranged close together and having controlbuttons; said buttons having non-round bases with intersecting orbitsand being positioned so that a non-round portion of one, when that oneis in closed position, permits the other to move through its own orbit;but when the former is open a portion of its base, standing in the orbitof said other, prevents the opening of said other.

6. A two-pipe flow-control device comprising the combination, with twopipes, of a pair of cocks, one for each pipe; and a pair of buttons, onefor each cock; said buttons mutually having circular portions of base,each toward the other when its own cock is open, and each having arecessed portion toward the other when its own cock is closed; said baseportion of each button moving into said recessed portion of the otherbutton when its own cock is being opened and said others cock is closed.

7. A two-pipe flow-control device comprising the combination, with twopipes, of a pair of cocks, one for each pipe; and a pair of buttons, onefor each cock; said cocks being designed to open each by rotation in thesame direction, and said buttons having circular peripheries whoseorbits are secant; each said periphery having a recess which in oneposition, permits the circular periphcry of the other to pass it. I

8. A two-pipe flow-control device comprising the combination, with twopipes, of a pair of cocks, one for each'pipe; and a pair of coactinghandles, one for each cock; each said handle being of the lever armtype, and each lever arm being offset from the axis of its cock indirection away from the other handle when both are in the closedpositions of their cocks; and both handles being so located, each inrelation to the other, that when both are in said off positions each isfree to move to open its cock and, where thus moved, obstructs the pathof the other handle'; whereby at any one time only one cock can be open.

Signed at Portland, Maine, this fourth day of June. 1931. I

FRANKLIN LAWRENCE.

